To Iberia and Back Again: A Northern Lords + Fate of Iberia AAR

[JerseyGiants88]

To Iberia and Back Again: From Adventure to Empire​

Start Year: 867
Starting Character: Halfdan ‘Whiteshirt’ Hvitserk
Starting Dynasty: Sigurdr; House Hvitserk
Version: 1.7.2 (Bastion)
Iron Man: Yes

Part 1: The Wrath of the Northmen
Part 2: Into the Struggle

Welcome readers! Some of you may know me from my EUIV AAR, Italian Ambitions, which has a history book/narrative format. This AAR, To Iberia and Back Again, will be much different. Whereas I always played EUIV for my own enjoyment, and to use as a basis for AARs, I am very much an achievements hound in CKIII. This AAR is the result of my (ultimately successful) attempt to unlock three particular achievements that seemed to provide the framework for a pretty good story. I plan to keep the focus on gameplay and explain some of the tactics and strategies that have worked for me over the course of the game. My writing style will be very informal and I am always happy to answer readers’ questions.

Before playing CKIII I was never very interested in Norse history or mythology, but I loved many of the game mechanics that came with the Northern Lords pack, particularly the Varangian Adventure CB. I had previously run a rather successful game starting as Hæsteinn of Montaigu where I got the Going Places (As Hæsteinn of Montaigu in 867, hold any Kingdom Tier Title) and Faster than the Fox (As a Norse tribal, control the entirety of Sicily) achievements by launching a Varangian Adventure invasion of southern Italy. Starting as a powerful Northern lord like Hæsteinn, the Varangian Adventure CB allows you to essentially a play choose-your-own-adventure game, since they can overpower pretty much anyone on the map. The Wrath of the Northmen scenario title is very apt. I figured there were other achievement combinations that could yield interesting games. I came up with these:

Holidaying in Iberia: Start as an Uninvolved character, become Involved and end the Iberian Struggle.

Iberian Conciliation: End the Iberian Struggle by setting your differences aside.

Blood Eagle: Starting as any child of Ragnarr Loðbrók, conquer all of the British Isles.

While playing, I unlocked numerous other achievements as well, which I will mention as I go along. Some I happened into, and others I specifically targeted.

The Varangian Adventure CB is perfect for going after Holidaying in Iberia, since you can pretty much pick wherever on the peninsula you want to land and start working your way into the Struggle from there. If you can land a few alliances with your Northern brethren, you will have your pick of duchies to target.

I had previously unlocked the Iberian Hostilities achievement (win the Iberian Struggle by conquest), so I wanted to aim for a different resolution to the conflict. In this case, I wanted to go for the détente victory since it would represent a full turnaround for the Northern invaders: arriving as vicious conquerors but in the end settling the peninsula’s troubles through peaceful, civilized means. If you do want to go for the military victory instead, Hæsteinn is again a great pick, since he will give you Holidaying in Iberia, Iberian Hostilities, and Going Places should you win the Struggle militarily.

Finally, once the Iberian Struggle was complete, I wanted shift my focus and lead a return to the British Isles, to achieve the ancestral Sigurdr dream of conquering Britain. This would unlock the Blood Eagle achievement. Now, theoretically, you can reverse the order, conquering the British Isles first then finding a way to Iberia. However, I was worried that the Struggle could be ended before I had a chance to finish my northern conquests and then head south. Plus, going to Iberia first seemed the more interesting route and of course informed the title of this AAR. For this game, I decided to go start as Halfdan ‘Whiteshirt’, though Sigurdr ‘Snake-in-the-Eye’, Ivar ‘the Boneless’, and Björn ‘Ironside’ will also allow you to claim the same achievements.

One downside is that I did not think of making an AAR out of this game until rather late, so the early game screen shots are rather sparse. However, I do have all of the key moments, though little in between. I plan for the updates to be relatively brief, and I will not be attempting a sprawling historical epic with this. But I hope to include the fun tidbits and pass along some tips and tactics for any newer players who might be reading this. I hope you all enjoy!

 

[HistoryDude]

This looks like it will be very interesting. I can't wait to see a Norse Spain!

 

[Von Acturus]

Count me in for the ride! Northman Ibéria that resolves the Muslim Christian struggle with tolerance and compromise will surely be interesting!

 

[JerseyGiants88]

This looks like it will be very interesting. I can't wait to see a Norse Spain!

Count me in for the ride! Northman Ibéria that resolves the Muslim Christian struggle with tolerance and compromise will surely be interesting!

Welcome. This game has been a ton of fun to play (it is still ongoing, I am currently in the year 1287) and I hope it can provide others some entertainment as well.

 

[JerseyGiants88]

Part 1: The Wrath of the Northmen​

Halfdan “Whiteshirt”, starting in 867, sets up for a very fun game. He begins with the Skilled Tactician (3 star martial) education trait and almost all of one Lifestyle tree complete. I will admit to reloading my game one time, at the start, to get the one that I wanted. The first time I booted up the game, Halfdan had the Authority focus tree filled out, but I wanted the Chivalry tree instead. Working toward the gallant trait is my first go-to for a martial leader who I want to get stuck into the fighting. Then I will go to the Strategy focus, and only go for Authority once the other two are complete. Chivalry and Strategy provide a huge qualitative advantage over most foes, particularly in the early game where smaller army sizes mean knights are particularly effective. This is particularly true when you can assemble a gang of high prowess knights, which is not hard to do for the early Norse characters. When I started the game the second time, Halfdan had most of the Chivalry tree filled out and I was ready to go.

Halfdan starts at war with Northumberland, Wessex, and Mercia, but they are in turn also at war with his brother, Ivar “the Boneless”. Together, they are more than a match for their targets and winning this conflict is easy. With Halfdan and his 5,000 hardened Norse warriors, I was able to pretty much sweep my foes away. The enemy armies are all split up to start, so I quickly picked them off piecemeal, then went on to besiege my foes’ capitals once that was done. The challenge is to try to win quickly without wasting too much of your manpower. Once I won that war, I spent the next decade building up my power and prestige and, most importantly, my alliances for the next big move.

Starting Situation​

Alliances with other Northmen are crucial to pull off a successful Varangian adventure against a powerful, faraway foe. The good thing is that a mighty coalition is easy to put together. Halfdan is brothers with several of the most powerful Norse characters (Ivar, Sigurdr ‘Snake-in-the-Eye’, and Björn ‘Ironside’), and has several unmarried children to add more friends to the list. I made alliances with each brother plus Hæsteinn of Montaigu, who is very powerful, and High Chief Siemowit of Polania. The one downside of this approach was that I got dragged into my truculent allies’ wars in quick succession. Hæsteinn (in 869), Ivar (in 873), Björn (also in 873), and Ivar’s son Barid (in 878) all called me to war to aid in their conquests. We were successful each time, but it did delay my departure from Britain for over a decade.

Nevertheless, by the start of 879, I was ready to launch my grand adventure. Al-Andalus was still intact and relatively stable at that point, so I initially considered launching my invasion of Iberia into one of the Christian kingdoms in the north. However, I really wanted to invade from the south and I especially wanted to gain control of Cordoba (this would turn out to be crucial to the game’s success, as will be seen later). However, I also did not want to go straight for Cordoba as my target because I felt it was more appropriate for Northmen to take coastal territory first. Therefore, I set Seville as my target. I picked Seville because I spent time in Andalusia and it is a city I visited many times, but any duchy in Iberia will do. From there, it was time to unleash the Wrath of the Northmen.

The Viking Invasion of al-Andalus​

Al-Andalus was ruled by Sultan Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman of the storied Umayyad dynasty. His realm was sizable, but weak and vulnerable once one looked closely. My allies and I had a huge qualitative and quantitative advantage, so this campaign was also relatively easy. I overestimated al-Andalus’s strength, and my coalition was a bit of overkill, but it guaranteed success. We spent 880-881 besieging cities and destroying the sultan’s armies, culminating in a final victory with Halfdan himself commanding the Northern host against Sultan Muhammad at the Battle of Alarcos in August of 881. The sultan was wounded in the battle, and eventually succumbed to his injuries nine months later in March of 882. I let the war go on for as long as possible, even after reaching 100% war score, which ended up paying off because with all the berserkers and bloodthirsty Ásatrúan lords, al-Andalus was absolutely devastated and terminally destabilized. I captured two of the sultan’s heirs plus a ton of his vassals, and my allies snagged a bunch of other high ranking Andalusian nobles as well. In proper Norse fashion, most of these were executed in bloody ritual, which boosts piety for Ásatrúans. So, all in all, the game was off to a great start. When the sultan died, leaving a child on his throne, al-Andalus was ready to implode.

Chronicle of the Andalusian Invasion

Victory

Interloper Status​

With the Duchy of Seville under my control, I was entered into the Iberian Struggle as an Interloper character. This occurs when your realm capital is in Iberia but your faith and/or your culture is not. To be involved, eighty percent of a faith or culture’s provinces must be in Iberia. There are also some faiths and cultures that are always involved:

Faiths: Ash'arism, Catholicism, Mozarabism, Muwalladism
Cultures: Andalusian, Aragonese, Asturleonese, Baranis, Basque, Bedouin, Castilian, Catalan, Galician, Maghrebi, Mashriqi, Portuguese, Sephardi

My plan was to convert to one of the involved religions, and then to form a hybrid between Norse and one of the involved ccultures. As al-Andalus shattered, I was left with numerous vulnerable neighbors to prey upon.

Having won his great victory, Halfdan looked out over a peninsula ripe for the taking. If this land’s greatest power had succumbed so easily, what could the rest of them do? However, the great Northern conquest of Iberia was not to be. Unexpectedly, Halfdan Whiteshirt, legendary Viking conqueror, died peacefully in his sleep on 18 January 883, less than a year after his hated for, the Sultan of al-Andalus.

Halfdan’s son, the wise and just Sigfrið, succeeded him, and charted a radically different path for House Hvitserk, Iberia, and, ultimately, all of Europe. In Part 2, Sigfrið will get himself involved in the Iberian Struggle, and set out on the path of enlightenment.

 

[Elden]

Interesting story and I can't wait to see where it goes.

Faiths: Ash'arism, Catholicism, Mozarabism, Muwalladism, Rabbinism
Cultures: Andalusian, Aragonese, Asturleonese, Baranis, Basque, Bedouin, Castilian, Catalan, Galician, Maghrebi, Mashriqi, Portuguese, Sephardi

I read this on the CK3 wiki too but it doesn't seem to be accurate. I've tried making a custom character with Rabbinism as their religion but it classes me as interloper and says that religion is not involved in the struggle.

 

[JerseyGiants88]

I read this on the CK3 wiki too but it doesn't seem to be accurate. I've tried making a custom character with Rabbinism as their religion but it classes me as interloper and says that religion is not involved in the struggle.

I pulled that list from the Wiki also, I have only played games as Catholic, Mozoarabic, or Muwalladi, so I used the Wiki to confirm. But this is a good call out. I just tested this myself and had the same result both in 867 and 1066. In both cases, I created characters with Andalusian culture and Rabbinic religion and also was marked as an interloper character for the same reason.

It looks like for both 867 and 1066, the only involved faiths at the start are Catholicism, Mozoarabism, Ash'arism, and Muwalladism. I have edited my list above to reflect that.

 

[HistoryDude]

A Norse "king" reigns in Iberia. His first target was Muslim, so the Catholics are probably more friendly to him at the moment.

The Umayyads appeared to collapse rather quickly. Was that just a stroke of luck?

 

[JerseyGiants88]

A Norse "king" reigns in Iberia. His first target was Muslim, so the Catholics are probably more friendly to him at the moment.

The Umayyads appeared to collapse rather quickly. Was that just a stroke of luck?

Yes there was definitely some luck, though the invasion contributed as well. As I mentioned, the sultan got wounded in battle and died from those wounds not long after the war. Once his successor took over, he got hit immediately with a dissolution faction war from his remaining vassals and that pretty much sealed their fate. They were too weakened from the Norse invasion to defeat the rebellious vassals and that was pretty much that.

This is my third time playing an Iberia 867 start and each time al-Andalus did not survive longer than a few decades. The game pretty much sets them up to break apart, which I believe is the intent anyway.

 

[JerseyGiants88]

Part 2: Into the Struggle​

Sigfrið Halfdansson became Jarl of Seville upon the death of his father in 883. As an Ásatrúan in a land filled with adherents of the Abrahamic monotheisms, finding alliances was not easy. I did manage to marry a daughter off to the King of Ghana, and so I got a moderately powerful partner to help me along on my conquests, albeit one that took a long time to get his forces to the fight.

Established as an interloper in the Iberian Struggle, I became to work toward my first two goals, which could be completed in tandem: Holidaying in Iberia plus Iberian Conciliation. For the former, my current focused was to go from interloper to involved. My realm capital was in the conflict region, but neither my religion nor my culture was involved. For the former, I decided to convert to one of the involved faiths. For the latter, I instead resolved to eventually merge Norse with Andalusian to form a unique, and therefore involved, new culture. So that part was all simple enough.

Where things get tricky, is actually ending (i.e. winning) the Iberian Struggle. Since I was specifically going for the détente ending, I had to make sure that my actions were tailored specifically to that goal. One requirement is that “You Hold and Completely Control any De Jure Kingdom of Hispania,” and this is what I decided to focus on. It would be easier to address the other conditions once I was established as a king in control of a significant power. As ruler of Seville, as was de jure part of Andalusia, so that was what I targeted.

Now, in retrospect, I may have made things a touch more difficult for myself by picking Seville as my duchy target for the Varangian Adventure. The Kingdom of Andalusia is quite large, and along with the Kingdom of Valencia, requires the most territory to create/usurp (10 provinces). The easiest route is to go for one of the duchies along the north coast, and then form/usurp Asturias, Castille, or Navarra. They only require the player to control four, four, or three provinces, respectively. Galicia and Badajoz each require control of six provinces, so represent a sort of middle road.

Since even the more peaceable solution to the Iberian Struggle requires at least some warfare, I decided to get to it. The first step was to once again hammer the weakened Kingdom of al-Andalus, since I needed to either break it and then reform it or usurp the title. Either way, there was no getting around the need for a second attack against the venerable Umayyad dynasty. The new sultan was al-Mundir “the Crownless”, a weak ruler with little hope of resisting my onslaught. The war was decided in a pair of battles fought at Qadis, the first on 23 April 887, and the other on 15 November of that same year. In the second clash, I captured the sultan, which would have allowed me to end the war immediately. However, I decided instead to execute al-Mundir, since I wanted al-Andalus to break apart, thereby making my life easier afterwards. That of course dropped my war score, but it did not matter. The game was up and all it took was a few more uncontested sieges to ensure victory.

Sure enough, it did not take long for the remnants of al-Andalus to collapse as al-Mundir’s equally hapless heir was immediately hit with a dissolution faction war. From there, I was able to quickly take over the fractious remains, and by 893 I was in a pretty good spot. That was also the year in which I had Sigfrið make the momentous decision of converting to Catholicism. I needed to have my faith involved in the Iberian Struggle, and after having spent his entire time as ruler waging war against Muslims, it seemed that the other side was the more natural pick. This immediately enhanced my prospects, given the situation in the peninsula. Since I had no intentions of expanding beyond the borders of the de jure Kingdom of Andalusia (at least not until the Struggle was completed), I would have no reason to quarrel with any of the existing Catholic rulers. Instead, I began wooing them, both with marriage alliances and the befriend scheme.

As an aside: if, instead, I had invaded Castille or Asturias with my Varangian Adventure at the start, my decision would have likely gone the other way: convert to Muwalladism and ally with other Islamic rulers while I conquered a majority Catholic de jure kingdom.

The Jarldom of Seville amidst the wreckage of al-Andalus, 893

Jarl Sigfrið on the eve of his conversion to Christianity​

In 895-897, I waged war against Garnatah, conquering that realm and giving me enough provinces to re-create the Kingdom of Andalusia. It took me another four years to gather the required gold, but by 17 February 901, I was all set to go. As the ruler of a kingdom now, I was ready to focus on the remaining tasks to complete the struggle. I made sure to set my steward to promote cultural acceptance between Norse and Andalusian, which would be necessary to be able to merge the cultures and thereby become fully involved in the Struggle.

Another item I would like to note is the importance of Cordoba, as a province, to the success of my game. It begins with a development level of 20, the third highest mark in Europe, behind only Rome and Constantinople. Furthermore, the Grand Mosque is a very powerful building, helping to bolster revenue. I moved my realm capital there as soon as I was able to, and would keep it there for centuries, until an even more historically illustrious city took its place. I do not know if this game would have been as successful as it was without my taking of Cordoba early on. It set the stage for much of what was to come. In that sense, perhaps, invading the “more difficult” Kingdom of al-Andalus was worth it, for this province alone.

The Great Mosque of Cordoba​

Sigfrið died on New Year’s Day 843, at the age of 78. By his death, he had become known as “The Enlightnened”, travelled on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and become one of the most respected men in Iberia. The days of rapacious Northern invaders seemed to be in the past. Sigfrið’s reign augured a future of peace and civilization.

Sigfrið’s Chronicles

I was lucky in that Sigfrið got the Mastermind Philosopher education trait, granting +8 Learning and a +40% monthly learning lifestyle experience. I am personally a huge fan of the Learning lifestyle. Theology I find to be only mildly helpful, particularly in a game like this where mass conversions are not necessary, but the Medicine and Scholarship trees are both very good. The latter boosts your heirs, and improves relations with other religions and cultures. The former extends the life of your ruler (and your courtiers and family), which can be crucial, especially later in the game when stability becomes even more important. Coupled with some artifacts and dynasty traits later on, with a little work you can easily get your characters to live into their 70s, 80s, and beyond on a consistent basis. The stress reduction perks that come with the Medicine tree are not to be underestimated either. Many decisions became much more palatable when they cost a fraction of the stress.



My three favorite perks from this lifestyle (not counting the traits themselves):

Scientific (Scholarship): +35% Cultural Fascination Progress

Know Thyself (Medicine): Receive a warning 1 year before Death of natural causes

Carefree (Medicine): -20% Stress Gain

In part 3, Sigfrið's successors will continue on the wise path he embarked upon, to the benefit of all of Iberia and its peoples. The next entry will cover what was probably my favorite part of this particular CKIII game, and it should also be a lot longer. I will touch more on the Iberian Struggle mechanics and how it works, and some of the things I think the game really does well in this regard. My screen shots from the era of Sigfrið I were rather scarce, as you might have been able to tell, but I started taking more as the game went along and I should have significantly more in the next update. Thanks for reading!

 

[Von Acturus]

A Catholic Kingdom of Norse-Andalusians in Seville, allied with the King of Gana. You don't see that everyday!

And the good Jarl, who began his life as a raider pillaging the isles and Iberia and turned into an enlightened ruler making pilgrimages to Jerusalem and managing the most powerful realm of Iberia, a fascinating character! I Imagine there'll be a host of odes, literary works, pulp shows and plays made about him and his life later on.

 

[HistoryDude]

That path is interesting. The conversion will make things more difficult if you ever decide to attempt to unite Hispania as a whole.

What stopped you from launching another invasion of one of the northern kingdoms before converting? It would have been weird but not impossible to do.

 

[JerseyGiants88]

That path is interesting. The conversion will make things more difficult if you ever decide to attempt to unite Hispania as a whole.

What stopped you from launching another invasion of one of the northern kingdoms before converting? It would have been weird but not impossible to do.

I will get into a scrape or two with some northern neighbors, because at least one or two of them held provinces that I needed. However, because I am specifically going for the détente resolution to the Iberian Struggle, there is no need for me to invade anywhere outside of the initial de jure kingdom of al-Andalus.

De jure kingdoms of Iberia in 867​

The conditions to achieve détente are as follows:

• You are an Independent Ruler
• The current Struggle Phase is in the Conciliation Phase
• You are Involved
• Your Level of Fame is Exalted among Men (4) or above
• You Hold and Completely Control any De Jure Kingdom of Hispania
• All other Independent Involved Rulers have an Alliance with you
• You control less than 50% of the Iberia Region

Therefore, there was no incentive for me to blob and get too big early on. While I did have plans to eventually form Hispania, it was not strictly speaking required in order to achieve any of my objectives. Either way, I was deferring any thoughts on Hispania until after the Struggle was resolved, since it cannot be formed until then anyway, one way or the other. So, I did not want to gobble up any more provinces than I needed to, and conquering anything outside of de jure Andalusia would gain me nothing. Once I was able to form Andalusia, I pivoted to improving relations with all the other Iberian rulers to begin completing the other necessary prerequisites for détente.